


Father

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Series: Talon!Damian AU [7]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 20:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4235505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You’ve gotta calm down, B. I don’t want to come in here and start barking orders, you know that’s not me but…he’s been through enough hostility, don’t you think?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Father

**Author's Note:**

> This would be in the future of the AU, thus why I didn’t mention how he was rescued. Damian is literally like a zombie here, due to his injuries and the painkillers, though feels very safe there and doesn’t know why. Also tried to showcase how well Dick and Bruce know each other, but probably did it terrible. I didn’t focus real well on this one, oops. :/

It was nothing short of a miracle, and Bruce would never stop thanking his lucky stars for it. The proof was right here, right in front of him. Unconscious in the cave med bay.

But there was proof of something else, too. The torture his son had endured. The abuse. The pain. New scars littered his tiny frame, wounds that shouldn’t be _survivable_ , let alone inflicted on a small boy.

His skin was still pale, blue veins still crisscrossing his skin. The Court of Owls had changed his _physique_ , and there was no telling if they would be able to change it back.

And Bruce wanted to stay at his side, do anything to make his son comfortable. Make his son _safe_. But he couldn’t. It was an internal crisis. He never wanted to take his eyes off Damian again, but at the same time, couldn’t look at him without feeling a raw fury at the mere thought of the things done to him.

They were going to pay for all of it. The Court. The other Talons.

Lincoln March.

Just the faint idea of the man made Bruce see red. He spun around, throwing his fist against the hard rock.

He kept his knuckles pressed against the stone, breathing slowly to get himself under control. He heard Damian moan behind him, the shuffle of all the medical equipment as he tossed and turned in his slumber for the millionth time.

“He’s going to tear the IV out one of these times.” Alfred observed.

“Just worry about the oxygen line, Alfred.” Bruce growled.

But Alfred didn’t get a chance to retort as the roar of a motorcycle echoed through the caverns. The engine had barely been cut before the loud ringing of quick footstomps sounded up the stairs.

“What happened? Is everyone alright?” Dick demanded, near flying into the area. He hesitated at the med bay’s borders though, eyes darting everywhere but where they clearly wanted to be. “Is…is he here?”

Bruce sighed and turned around to face his eldest. He gestured his arm out to the bed in the opposite corner, and the machines surrounding it. Dick didn’t need anymore prompting. He near skipped across the floor, rocking to a stop against the edge of the mattress.

“Gentle, Master Richard.” Alfred warned, as Dick reached out and ran a hand through Damian’s hair, brushed his fingers lightly against his face, pausing sadly at the plastic tubing wrapped around Damian’s nose and cheeks. “He…our boy is very fragile right now.”

Dick nodded, planting a soft kiss on Damian’s forehead. It was cold, his skin was _so cold_. Colder than a body should be able to sustain.

“You’ve gotta calm down, B.” Dick whispered, turning only halfway, to look at the computer monitor that proved the existence of Damian’s heartbeat. “I don’t want to come in here and start barking orders, you know that’s not me but…he’s been through enough hostility, don’t you think?”

“I’m not angry at him, I’m-”

“Pissed as all hell at the Court, I know. You should be.” Dick clarified, facing Bruce head on as he crossed his arms. “But Bruce, I can’t let you get near him with that kind of anger, not right now.”

And Bruce knew that. He did. But his stubborn streak just made him unhappy to hear it.

“Because whatever they did to him – and god, I don’t know if we can _fix_ that,” Dick sighed, glancing back down behind him. “Whatever they did to his _mind_ , it made him a blank slate. All he knows is what Owlman did to him. And you don’t really want him equating us to that piece of filth, do you?”

“No.” Bruce pursed his lips. “No, I don’t.”

“And I know you’re going to worry.” Dick smiled fondly, tipping his head slightly to the side. “But try not to too much, okay? He’s got Alfie and me here. And he…he couldn’t be safer.”

“It has been an excursion, this past year. And, other than Master Damian, no one suffered his absence more than you, sir.” Alfred added as he checked the IV levels. “You deserve a rest.”

“I’ll rest when I find that good-for-nothing _monster_ , take down his operation and kick his ass all the way to GCPD.” Bruce snarled, feeling that anger continue to rise in his soul, despite Dick’s warning. “But until then-”

“Fat…her?”

The hoarse voice was unexpected by all present. Alfred gasped and jumped back. Dick spun around in surprise. Bruce found himself holding his breath as he locked gazes with a pair of tired blue-and-yellow eyes.

“What did you say?” Dick inhaled. Because as far as they all knew Damian didn’t know them, not really, especially not without their masks. Didn’t know anything besides owls and violence and hurt.

Damian barely glanced up at him, though didn’t react when Dick enveloped his hand in both of his, keeping his focus solely on Bruce.

“Are you my father?” And the hopeful tension immediately deflated. “Owlman claims I look like my father. I asked him if that meant that’s who _he_ was, but.” Damian suddenly frowned, eyes dark with memory. “He…made it _clear_ he is not. And that I am never to imply that he was _ever_ again.”

Bruce surprised himself, then. He expected his anger to jump once more, at that blatant hint that Lincoln- _fucking_ -March had put his hands on his son. But it didn’t. Instead, he felt the flame in his heart die down, a calmness spread through his blood.

“But it appears that you and I share…similarities.”

And Bruce…Bruce found himself smiling. Because Damian knew, deep down. Maybe not consciously. Maybe the thought was still fuzzy and hidden, blocked by whatever magic the Court had used on him. But Damian knew. Damian recognized him.

He slowly moved forward, slowly shifted Dick to the side, slowly took Damian into his arms.

“Yes,” He murmured. “I am your father. And I’m going to make sure no one hurts you ever again.”

“Oh.” And it was probably the drugs. Probably the boy’s complete and utter exhaustion. Maybe it was his relief. At finally being free, finally being rescued. But he slumped into Bruce’s chest, clung to Bruce’s arm with one hand, let the other be grabbed and held by Dick once more. “…Hello, Father.”

Dick smiled – and Bruce suspected he wouldn’t be stopping that any time soon – as he fixed the blankets, pulling them up and twisting them around Damian’s shoulders. Bruce nodded to Alfred once, who turned, adjusting the amount of painkillers in the IV, before burying his nose into Damian’s hair. Already, he could see Damian’s eyelids drooping, as the child quickly fell back to sleep in his arms. “Hello, son.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Other Talon!Damian stories](http://fishfingersandjellybabies.tumblr.com/search/talon%21damian)   
> 


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